Twitter Getting Into Snapchat’s Video Kitchen?

Up until now video hasn’t been a priority for Twitter. You could upload a picture or video in the tweet composer, but it’s been a jenky process. However, that changed yesterday with debut of Twitter’s updated camera feature, which can now be accessed with a single swipe directly from the timeline screen. This functionality will allow Twitter users to include a pic or video in a tweet without needing to upload.

Twitter’s video upgrade appears to be a direct challenge to other video-based socials like Snapchat and TikTok. Users engage at a higher rate with video over text or static images, so it makes sense that Twitter would want to jump on the video bandwagon to improve its content and make the site stickier.

The prioritization of video as content also fits well with Twitter’s ad product strategy. Back in 2017 Twitter pivoted away from display ads and in to higher priced video ads in order to make the company profitable. Now by having more videos in the user-uploaded content they’ll automatically make their video ads feel more native to the site. Pretty smart move all around.